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AUTOMOTIVE NEWS AT A GLANCE

Listed here are several articles pertaining to the
auto industry in general that appeared recently in newspapers and other media outlets across the nation.

Chrysler posts $183M operating profit for Q2The Detroit News, August 9
Chrysler Group LLC today reported a second-quarter profit of $183 million on operations, its second consecutive quarterly operating profit since emerging from bankruptcy last year.

Auto sales: China blows past U.S.CNN Money, August 5
For a view as to where the world is heading, take a close look at automotive sales data coming out of the two largest markets, the U.S. and China. It is instructive -- and a bit frightening.

Ford Mustang outsells Chevrolet Camaro -- by 3 cars USA Today, August 5In the ongoing sales battle between Ford Mustang and Chevrolet Camaro, it doesn't get any closer than this. Last month, Mustang prevailed in the contest over upstart Camaro -- by three cars.

ENVIRONMENT, HEALTH & SAFETY: NOW IS THE TIME TO PREPARE, EVALUATE, UPDATE AND IMPLEMENT YOUR SPCC PLAN

This year brings the hottest climate to the current state of environmental issues, and with the current focus of disasters such as the BP oil spill, enforcement is increasing and the consequences of non-compliance are expensive and potentially devastating.
The SPCC Rule essentially requires specific facilities to prepare, amend, certify, and implement an SPCC plan, thereby ensuring containment and countermeasures that will prevent oil discharges. Some elements of an SPCC plan include ensuring staff has undergone SPCC specific training, preparation of monthly self-inspection procedures and documentation, and a Five-year Plan review.
For more information, please see http://www.epa.gov/emergencies/content/spcc/index.htm

DISCLAIMER: CADA is not authorized to dispense legal advice.The information contained in this weekly email is intended to provide important updates and reminders regarding statutes, litigation, and regulations. CADA always advises that dealers should consult legal counsel on the specifics of any laws or regulations to ensure proper compliance

CADA LEGISLATIVE POLICY COMMITTEE DEALER MEETINGS

The CADA Legislative Policy Committee is scheduling dealer meetings with Colorado state legislators in order to increase awareness and gain support for the many policy issues expected to face auto dealers in the upcoming session of the Colorado General Assembly which convenes January 12, 2011.

Several meetings are planned and you are invited to participate in as many of the meetings as you are able to do.

The primary purpose of this series of brief get-togethers is to foster and advance relationships between CADA member dealers and Colorado’s elected leaders.

The following topics areas are expected to be covered in each session:

Auto industry issues in general

Colorado dealer issues in particular

Proposals to repeal Colorado’s ban on Sunday sales of automobiles

Growing class action litigation against the auto retail industry

Trends in auto sales in state and nationally

Sales tax jurisdictional issues

With the economic challenges faced by the industry today, it is more important than ever that state legislators get the opportunity to hear from you on issues of importance to you and your business.

For most dealers, advertising is the second largest expense after payroll. How's that working for you? You have a limited budget, albeit a large budget, but also a limited expertise to properly evaluate how well those monies are being spent. Our speaker for this session does have the expertise in this area as well as a long list of dealership clients from which to draw substantiated conclusions about where best to invest your ad dollars.

So just where is the ROI on the various choices for dealership advertising? Plan on rethinking much of what you thought you knew about dealership advertising. We will show you what really is working and possibly more important - what is a total waste of money!

** DealersEdge does accept "bill me" registrations. If you prefer to be invoiced, rather than to pay online with a credit card, please call 800-321-5312 for personal and prompt service.

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WEBINAR: ZEN AND THE ART OF TIME & MULTI-TASK MANAGEMENT FOR TODAY'S SUPER CONTROLLER

Learn Tricks and Strategies for Managing the Many Tasks of the Dealership Controller!

11:00am(MDT), Thursday – August 26, 2010

Dealership controllers and office managers have all been there... The dealer reads an article or returns from a 20-Group meeting and immediately asks "Are we doing this”? While those questions often add to the stress of the day, they should be asked. In this 90 minute session, former Super Controller Sandi Jerome will share with you the many tricks and strategies that can help you manage these issues with calming confidence.

Sandi will help you reach the goal of calming confidence by sharing some of her most sought after time management tips, tricks and strategies which have helped her become a Super Controller!

** DealersEdge does accept "bill me" registrations. If you prefer to be invoiced, rather than to pay online with a credit card, please call 800-321-5312 for personal and prompt service.

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ARE YOU PREPARED TO SERVICE HYBRID VEHICLES?

Overall Objective: To teach automotive technicians basic safety for handling hybrid batteries and working with hybrid vehicles. Target market – Automotive technicians in the western region of the U.S. wishing to train on hybrid vehicles. Anticipated class size – limited to 12 students per class Anticipated duration of training – course will run for 40 hours (see dates and times on attached advertisement) Learning Objectives and Hands on Training Includes:

Demonstrate safety when dealing with hybrid batteries

Describe and demonstrate methods of approaching high-voltage systems

Describe steps to evaluate if vehicle is safe to touch or work on

Be able to locate high-voltage wires in hybrids and all electric vehicles

Have you or anyone else at your dealership won an award recently? Have you or your dealership provided any outstanding community service? We want to recognize such accomplishments. Please send us a brief write-up of the award or event along with any other information to milestones@coloradodealers.org. Also include your contact information for further follow-up.

Electric-car maker Tesla reports quarterly lossUSA Today, August 5
Investors in electric-car maker Tesla Motors had better get used to a long string of quarterly losses if the company's first earnings report as a public company is any indication.

As end nears for Mercury, deals are good, not great USA Today, August 4
If you thought the announcement that Ford Motor will cease production of new Mercury cars and SUVs by the end of 2010 would lead to lavish incentives, you'd be wrong, at least as of today.

Jobs returning to auto sectorThe Detroit News, August 5
The auto industry is emerging from the deepest downturn in decades as a smaller but arguably healthier sector that is now starting to add jobs.